This application relates generally to material handling apparatus and, more particularly, to apparatus for feeding intermittently in step-by-step fashion several distinct webs of flexible fabric in superposed relation to one another as to present the leading edge of the combined web to the bed of a cutting press whereat, by operation of the press, the leading edge portion of the combined web is severed from the remaining portion, the edge portion concurrently being subdivided and also stitched so as to form a series of individual swatch pads, with each pad containing a swatch severed from each ply of the combined web.
The mechanical handling, especially feeding, of flexible web material such as fabric or cloth whether woven or non-woven and whether formed from natural fibers or from synthetic fibers requires that care be taken to avoid stressing the material unevenly which can prevent attainment of the desired feeding objective. This is particularly true when the material being fed is of the more loosely woven or loosely knitted type, due to the greater stretch factor in materials of this type. In applications where the feed is on an intermittent, step-by-step basis rather than continuous, this consideration becomes all the more critical becausing feeding stresses applied to the material to advance it a desired distance are applied repeatedly so as to create a greater chance of unduly stretching or pulling the material out of shape, and in applications where it is desired to feed several webs of different fabrics simultaneously in superposed relation to one another, the problem of avoiding excessive stretching of any one of the superposed webs becomes further compounded especially when the stretch factor of the webs vary from one web to another.
In conventional apparatus designed for handling and feeding a multi-ply web of fabric from a roll unwind stand to a cutting press or the like, the problem of relieving the tension or stretch in the fabric resulting from the unwinding or withdrawing function is customarily minimized by provision of laying-up apparatus to which the fabric is delivered from the unwind stand and before the fabric is transported to the infeed conveyor for the cutting press or similar mechanism. Use of the laying-up apparatus customarily involves withdrawal of a desired length of fabric from the unwind stands by a travelling clamp mechanism or the like and then cutting off the fabric at the desired length to form a lay to spread over a conveyor travelling at the same velocity as the clamping member. Thus, the tension in the fabric and the stretch occasioned by the withdrawal action is relieved and the fabric is free to return to its initial unstressed or untensioned condition. The use of laying-up apparatus for this purpose necessarily requires a considerable amount of floor space and, furthermore, adds substantially to the cost of the overall equipment.